At some
point in time we all break down and get a fan controller for one of our empty
5.25" bay slots. In the emerging days of internet hardware enthusiasts, circa 1999-2001, it was
the mark of a true geek to see his or her own hand made fan controller blinking away in
an ode to Tim Allen. These days, fan controllers are store bought
items produced by dozens of companies looking to accessorize their product lines.

Given the upsurge in LAN gaming events where we
all like to show off our PC's like miniature hot-rods, it's not uncommon for
the once utilitarian fan controller to be sporting a billion blinking LEDs of
every imaginable colour. The Evercool SCP-A falls into that category with three
dials surrounded by a changing colour fixture.

As the RPM on the attached fan increases, the
colour changes from blue to purple to pink (fastest). A red light indicates an
error with the fan in question, and an alarm also wails away. The actual voltage
adjustment ranges from 3.75V on the lower end through to 11.3V on the upper end.

What sets the Evercool SCP-A apart from many other
fan controller is primarily that it is an unpowered device. The unit sucks
power from each attached fan to supply the onboard electronics, LEDs, and the
audible alarm. This makes wiring a synch.

Evercool bundle there 5.25" bay fan controller with
the necessary mounting hardware, and 3-pin fan extension cables. The unit
includes three male-to-male extension cables about 16" long to supply power
to each channel, and three male-to-female cables 12" long.

This brings
up an interesting dilemma - what if your motherboard only has two fan headers?
Well, unless you already have a molex-to-fan header adaptor you out of luck.

he Evercool SCP-A only operates with three sources
of power in 3-pin format already supplied to it, and without those sources of
power you won't be able to use all three channels.

When hooked up and under power,
the Evercool SCP-A functions just as you expect it to, the LED's change colour
with the RPM levels, and if the fan jams, or becomes disconnected it registers as an
error. Ultimately though, all fan controllers offer similar features and functions, so it really
comes down to appearance for most of us.

And while the multicolour LEDs are pretty cool, the
rest of the unit is a dark blue plastic which guarantees it doesn't mach a
single case out there. The buttons are chromed, and well... it looks like the
thermostat from your car. ya....

Evercool ECS (Extended Cooling
System)

The idea behind products like the Evercool ECS is dead simple. When
you shut down your PC you also shut down the
cooling system which until that point may have been dealing with temperatures
as high as 60 degrees Celsius. Once that fan stops the temperatures
can continue to rise momentarily before convection cooling eventually brings everything down to
room temperatures. If you're touchy about your hardware this may be an
unthinkable sin - to leave your expensive videocard cooking away under the
resident heat from surrounding materials, but I'm not so convinced in the
'dangers' of such situations.

In any event, what the ECS does is keep
the fans connected to it going for a few minutes after the power has
been shut down to the rest of the PC.

The unit uses an adaptor that fits between the
motherboard and power supply 20-pin ATX power connector to supply itself with
5V, and keep up to two case fans powered up for an additional 5 minutes. Since
fans run at 12V, and the Evercool ECS supplies 5V, the fans naturally run slower
than normal.

There is no way to shorten or lengthen the time the
fans will remain powered up after the computer shuts down incidently.

The Evercool
ECS features a pass through so that
fans which are normally connected to the motherboard can still be connected there
as well. All the ECS circuitry does is basically provide an additional 5V source of power when
the computer is turned off, and that keeps the fans spinning a little longer.

It the Evercool ECS is really necessary? No, I don't
think so, but necessity never stopped consumers from purchasing things that
bring them "piece of mind."